THOUGHTS

This page is intended as a repository of information
that doesn't quite fit into the category of poetry, Bible studies, or sermons.
A lot of what I have done as a teacher of the Bible is to delve into the fabric
of the scripture narratives and pull out details that are missed at a casual
reading. I begin by not merely reading the stories themselves but looking
beyond the stories into what they reveal of the way life was lived in the
situation particular to the stories. There are many occasions within the
Bible where sufficient information exists to form interesting conclusions; some
of which shed greater light on our understanding of events centuries ago, others
which are merely interesting.

ABORTION ~ The claim that the fetus is part of the woman's body flies in
the face of logic. For the fetus to begin requires the addition of something
from a man's body to a woman's body, the fetus cannot begin life spontaneously
or by the involvement of a woman on her own. If the fetus were truly part of the
woman's body it could be expected to do both but it does not. Control over
whether the fetus begins is not the woman's alone but the woman's in partnership
with a man. Further, if left to continue unmolested this "part of the woman's
body" will develop into a human being separate from the woman, fully capable of
independent thought and action. Were the fetus truly part of the woman's body it
would be no more capable of independent action than would the woman's
fingernail.

ABORTION ~ Much is made of the woman's right to choose. Little is made of
the fact that her choice regarding abortion is the direct consequence of her
earlier choice for intercourse (in the vast majority of cases). The woman's
right to choose is no more than the desire to avoid the consequence of an act
chosen earlier; one may as well choose to have an automobile accident and choose
later not to damage the vehicle.

ABORTION ~ What seems to be ignored in all of this is that the fetus
would develop into a human being capable of independent action if left alone.
Whether a life is terminated at its beginning, at its middle or at its end a
life is still terminated, regardless of the nature of the life being terminated.
Were the child to be born and subsequently put to death a murder will have taken
place in spite of the fact that the newborn child is scarcely in the form in
which it would appear as an adult. Lack of complexity is merely an excuse for
murder.

CARE OF GOD ~
In a world where each breath is a gift from God how can we think He does not
care?

CARE OF GOD ~ God is so abundantly good as to overwhelm
all evil.

CHRISTMAS ~
Much is being said in these days on the attack against Christmas and how one
form of this attack is taking the form of discouraging the term "Merry
Christmas" in favour of "Happy Holidays." I would tend to see this attack as a
distraction from the overwhelming success of the previous attack, that which
stated that "Christmas is for families," or "Christmas is all about children"
which have been almost universally adopted. For all its history, Christmas is
the day on which Christians celebrate the advent of their Saviour. Calling it a
day for families or children removes all that is holy about the day and makes it
no more than a Winter holiday which has no more significance than any other
holiday.

CHURCH ~ Too many Christians today study churchianity more than they do
Christianity. We spend hours in pews listening to learned men expound upon the
teachings of God yet fail to realize that the primary call of God is to love Him
and to love our neighbour. We know more of the theory of Christianity than maybe
any other generation in history but know far less of the practice of
Christianity.

CHURCH ~ Many Cell Churches are starting up in an effort to come closer
to Christianity as it was practiced by New Testament Church; these churches
overlook, however, that the New Testament Church succeeded because of its faith
rather than its procedure. If we today wish to model our procedures upon those
of the New Testament Church we must add miracles and persecution to the list as
well.

CHURCH ~ We look so much within ourselves and are so
introspective that we overlook that Christianity is not a religion that stops
once we are saved but which we are commanded to share with those who have not
yet been saved.

COMPLAINING ~ On average, if we
feel we've got something to complain about, we generally have less to
complain about than we think. At the very least we are alive.

CREATION ~ Christians are all to eager to change the believer in
evolution to a believer in creation but not quite as eager to convert this same
person to a belief in Jesus Christ. All too often the argument for creation
becomes nothing more than an intellectual exercise rather than an opportunity
for evangelistic outreach.

CREATION ~ Man places a great deal of faith in the
discovered laws of nature giving them credit for the continuing functioning of
the universe never realizing that these laws do not, in and of themselves,
maintain the universe but are God's gracious manifestation of His power to hold
the universe secure.

CREATION ~ One of the rallying cries for the modern
creationist movement is "Ex Nihilo" which is translated "Out of nothing." Not
without cause but without source material. Modern science has a similar rallying
cry that all that is spontaneously came into being out of nothing and must then
go through great contortions to have anything at all. Eventually all their
arguments fail save that we are here so something has happened. But they never
know what that something was nor can obtain any explanation other than God.

DECEPTION ~
Much has been said of the impact upon the Christian faith of "The Gospel of
Judas" (recently released by National Geographic) and Dan Brown's book "The Da
Vinci Code" (with its attendant movie, released by Sony) and how these works
could revitalize a stagnant and dogmatic faith. From my point of view, both as a
life-long Christian and as a Christian scholar, the impact of these works is not
one of revitalization but of deception. The Christian faith is not a stagnant
faith, it is not a faith for which new doctrines are necessary. The Christian
faith is a mature faith that stands today where it stood on the day of Pentecost
- on the foundational Christian doctrine that man is a sinner and is reconciled
to God only by His own work though Jesus. Lies such as those perpetrated by Dan
Brown (that Jesus did not die but married Mary Magdalene) or those found in "The
Gospel of Judas" (that Judas was a favourite of Jesus and worked with Jesus to
achieve His crucifixion) do not advance the Christian faith but deceive those
who are know little of the Christian faith. These lies do not advance the
Christian faith so much as they destroy it. ("The Da Vinci Code" - If Jesus did
not die then my sins are not forgiven and I am dead. "The Gospel of Judas" - If
Judas and Jesus were in partnership then Jesus is not the Messiah but a
trickster and my sins are not forgiven and I am dead.) These lies and lies like
them only weaken those who believe them.

END TIMES ~
Does the "Left Behind" series accurately portray events as they will be prior to
Jesus return (within the scope of literary license)? No. I do not believe that
the Bible teaches that there will be a period of time following the rapture of
the saints in which unbelievers are given a second chance to place their faith
in Jesus Christ. Will there be rebellion? Yes. Pain and anguish? Yes again.
Persecution? Definitely. But not isolated to the Jews or those who become
Christians after the rapture but to all believers prior to Jesus' return for
them, which will be the end of all things. Nowhere in the Bible is any
distinction made between Jewish believers and Gentile believers; or early and
late believers in God. Once a person believes in God they become a full member
of the community of believers regardless of the time or the ethnic group they
were a member of when they became a believer. (See, for example, the efforts
that the early Church went through to ensure that the Jewish Christian was not
given more prominence than the Gentile Christian, or vice versa.) God does not
give preferential treatment in general but promises that all believers will
endure pain for what they believe. Prophetic literature is not always easy to
understand, there are events that will occur at the end of time that we can have
no inkling of (just as Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about Himself in a very
unexpected way). We certainly cannot be dogmatic on specific issues but where
the Bible speaks clearly we must accept its teaching in faith that God knows
what He is doing. Let us not get caught up in the drama of planes falling from
the sky but rather in the realization that when Jesus returns it will be too
late and many of our friends will be lost forever. Let us work together now that
they may be together with us then.

END TIMES ~ Many "Western" Christians support their belief
that God will rapture the Church before the Tribulation on the concept that
He would not allow His Church to suffer. How they fit the countless
Christians who have suffered for their faith throughout history and the countless Christians who continue to
suffer today into this framework is beyond my comprehension.

END TIMES ~ Every Christmas we see the same thing:
Senseless Chrisitians bemoaning the use of "Happy Holidays" instead of
"Merry Christmas" and claiming persecution. There is no doubt that the world
is against the Church and will do all in its power to destroy the Church,
including the aforementioned slight, but to consider this persecution, or a
harbinger of The End is presumption of the highest order. Christians in the
first century were being kicked out of synagogues, ridculed, beaten and even
killed for their faith; yet the words of Jesus, Peter, John and Paul all
indicate that persecution would get much worse! And then Jesus would
return to take us to our final home. The growing antagonism toward
Christianity that we are seeing today is nothing in
comparison to what has occurred since the crucifixion and our response to it
is way out of line with the response that the Bible teaches us to have. Rather than being miffed when our faith
is slighted, we should concern ourselves with the salvation of those doing
the slighting. It would be tragic if our hurt feelings kept us from
preaching salvation to those who's need of grace is identical to ours.

ENTERTAINMENT ~ From
a movie review I wrote at
Christian Spotlight on the Movies: "It seems to me that many reviewers of
[Austin Powers in Goldmember] (and of many other films on this site) believe
that the spiritual part of our lives may be separated from the non-spiritual
without harm. Comments along the lines of 'very funny but not a Christian movie'
indicate that someone is placing their desire to be pleased above their desire
to please God. God in the Bible clearly warns us to have nothing to do with that
which is evil. As people who profess to be Christians we must be sure that our
lifestyle supports our claim. Movies such as Goldmember which 'make sin funny'
are truly dangerous and must be avoided at any cost! Being a Christian is not a
part time occupation but a full time commitment, we cannot park our faith at the
theatre door and expect to come out unharmed by the lies of the deceiver. In
every aspect of our lives there is conflict between life and death, our support
of one over the other has eternal consequences."

ENTERTAINMENT ~ With all
the argument over whether or not the increasing immorality (sex, violence &
etc.) in our entertainment has an impact on the audience, one cannot help but
wonder at the countless dollars being "wasted" world-wide in advertising
campaigns that ultimately have the same impact on the audience as the
immoralities that they fund.

EVIL ~ The question is often asked "If your God is so good
and so powerful, why does He allow so much evil in the world?" But I think
the question is backwards, here's why: Man is inherently evil, even the best
of us struggle daily to "do the right thing" and can cause pain in others
without even thinking about it. We see all around us the evidence of
corruption and decay. The question should rather be "Given that man
struggles daily against evil, why is there any good at all?"

EVIL ~ We have all been hurt. Some of us far more than
others. But regardless of the magnitude of our pain, punishing the offender
will never remove our pain. The best that we can hope for is some
satisfaction that justice has been satisfied. But it is not really ever
satisfied. No amount of earthly justice will ever bring back the child that
a careless driver took from us. No amount of earthly justice will ever make
the rape not have happened. No amount of earthly justice can possibly remove
the pain of relentless insult. If the world is as fair as we demand it to be
then earthly justice would be satisfactory. But it is not. This fact alone
indicates that if fairness is to exist, if justice will eventually reslove
our pain, regardless of its magnitude, the resolution of our pain must occur
in a realm other than Earth and be dispensed by a power other than man.

EVOLUTION ~ Far too much faith is placed in the
ability of modern science to reveal the ancient past. More money has perhaps
been spent on weather analysis than on almost any other area of scientific
inquiry and yet our weather forecasters, who directly experience weather every
day of their lives, are unable to accurately predict events over the next few
days. How then can science be trusted when it claims to be able to extrapolate
from today events that it claims to have occurred countless ages ago?

EVOLUTION ~
Proponents of the theory of evolution must address the issue of why the world in
which we live has the appearance of being a finished product rather than
something that is under continual development.

EVOLUTION ~
Statistics that are used to show the implausibility of evolution acknowledge
that evolution had at least a very remote chance of happening. If evolution is
false it is false 100%. If evolution is given even the slightest
statistical chance of happening then the argument for evolution is given
infinitely more credence than it deserves.

EVOLUTION ~ Evolution is too preposterous to believe.

EVOLUTION ~ One argument that many evolutionist have against Christianity
is that Christians have been responsible for many horrible acts throughout
history. Ignored by the argument are the horrible acts for which the theory of
evolution has been responsible from the removal of critical organs regarded as
vestigial to the attempted obliteration of people groups deemed to be less than
perfectly human.

EVOLUTION ~ Statistics are often used to support the
plausibility of evolution (as in the example of a vast number of monkeys working
over a vast span of time ultimately producing an artistic masterpiece). Yet even
if such an event were possible (and it most certainly is not possible for
statistics, in reporting what has happened, can never tell what will happen but
only what may happen based on what has already happened - statistics are a
predictor of the past rather than of the future) the result would have no
meaning and therefore no significance. A work of art is not only significant for
its beauty but also for its meaning, what its author put into it and what its
audience takes out of it. The outcome of a purely mechanistic process can have
no possible meaning save that which may be read into it by the observer, making
the meaning nothing more than a groundless lie.

EVOLUTION ~ One of the great inconsistencies of human
thought with respect to the theory of evolution that really amazes me is weather
prediction. There is perhaps no aspect of life to which more study and money has
been devoted (with the possible exceptions of the military and health) and yet
in which perfect accuracy is so lacking. Although weather is immediate and
surrounds us intimately, other than our own person it is the one area of
creation we should know better than any other, yet we cannot with reliability
say in the morning if there will be cloud in the evening. If we are so
unreliable in predicting the immediate future, in spite of all our accumulated
years of experience, how can it be possible to definitively state "this universe
of billions of years in age and here is specifically what happened along the
way" with no more than scraps dug up out of the earth as evidence?

EVOLUTION ~ I have
studied the war between creation and evolution for many years. In that time I
have learned that the foundation of evolutionary thought is the desire to have
God removed from the universe. In that time I have also learned that the glory
of the Christian hope is a God of love who is overwhelmingly revealed through
the creation of which each of us is a part. Do not be misled by the lie that
evolutionary teaching is an attempt to explain the origins of the universe for
it is nothing less than a Satanic attempt to destroy mankind's hope. If creation
can be explained away as the result of time and chance rather than the loving
creation of a wonderful God then mankind would have no reason to seek God or to
have hope in God. Throughout Psalm 8, Psalm 19, Psalm 104 and the many other
passages in the Bible that speak of God's power over creation there is an
underlying wellspring of joy. It is this writer's comfort that God is as the
Bible describes, and he can have hope in Him because He is intimately involved
in the tiniest details of creation.

EVOLUTION ~ Some have
said that it is possible for Christians to believe evolution is true and not
jeopardize their salvation. While this should be true, in that "all who
call on the name of the Lord will be saved," it does raise the question of
allegiance. The Bible emphatically teaches that God created all that exists a
very short time ago (comparatively speaking) and in its current form. Man
teaches that time and chance resulted in what we see around us over a vast
period of time. For someone to hold the teaching of man in higher authority than
the teaching of God begs the question of who they truly believe.

FAITHFULNESS ~ We must remember,
when we are ridiculed that our faith in God (and all that that entails) is
foolish, that the world cannot appreciate what is does not know; some things
only seem to be foolish. As Paul writes: "But God chose the foolish things
of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to
shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world - and the things
that are not - to nullify the things that are." (1 Cor. 1:27-28)

FALSE FAITHS ~ Why do we stand
surprised at the evil acts of non-Christian religions? Given that they are
the product of the most evil of beings we should rather stand amazed that
they are capable of any good at all except that we would not be amazed since
God is supreme over all creation and His good character infuses all that He
has made; regardless of its relationship to Him.

HOMOSEXUALTIY ~
Cultural considerations aside, homosexuality is a dry relationship that flies in
the face of God's command for a man to be joined to his wife and to produce
offspring. It flies in the face of logic.

HOMOSEXUALITY ~ There is no possibility for homosexuals to fulfill God's
purpose for the sexes, the greatest of which is the symbolism of human marriage
for the relationship between Christ and His Church.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of
water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and
without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

HOMOSEXUALITY ~ For the Church to even consider
discussion on the validity of the homosexual lifestyle is an abomination that
exchanges the redemptive love shown in Jesus (a love that re-called its
recipient into a life-changing relationship with his Creator) for a perversion
of love such as is seen in a typical romance of today (a love that weakened by a
permissiveness that allows what God has denied and which, in accepting all
standards, can affirm none). The Bible is very clear in its condemnation of
homosexuality as a lifestyle, not of homosexuals as people, and for any to
re-interpret Biblical passages discussing homosexuality in a positive manner
does a gross injustice to the Scripture.

HOMOSEXUALITY ~ It is not an inherent right to
"marry" one's same-sex lover nor is it a basic freedom. Same-sex marriage (or
any other perversion of the marriage relationship) is no more and no less than
an evil attack upon the Earthly symbol of Jesus' union with His bride the
Church. It does not diminish my marriage, it is an attempt to sully the symbol
that my marriage is of a vastly higher love.

INCONSISTENT THOUGHTS ~ Replacing BC (Before Christ) with BCE
(Before Common Era) seems to me to make no sense other than as a direct
expression of the desire to do away with even this casual reference to Jesus.
How can anything between the birth of Christ and the Reformation be considered
part of the "common era?"

LIVING ~ The one indisputable fact
of life is that it ends. You and I are in the process of dying. Are you ready?
Are you certain that what you believe is worth your life?

LIVING ~ Enjoy your life today and thank God for it.

LOVE ~ There is a popular idea that to
love a person as Jesus does is to welcome them with open arms (which Jesus
does) and turn a blind eye to their sin (which Jesus does not).
What has been forgotten is that the same voice that cried out "Come to me
all who are weary and I will give you rest" also called the religious
leaders of the day "whitewashed tombs." That the Man who ate with 'sinners'
is the same Man who made a whip and chased the money-changers from the
temple. That the Teacher who taught the woman of Samaria also said to the
woman in the temple "Go and sin no more."
And it is the same voice, from the same Man that cried "Forgive them,
Father!" Calling out and forgiving sin in the same breath. From the cross.
As He was being murdered. By those He was asking God to forgive.
Jesus loves despite His awareness of our sins. Which is a good thing, since
none of us are good enough for His company. What is even better is that even
though He acknowledges our sin, He is willing to forgive it all and remove
from us the only thing that removes us from Him. But it must be removed!
Loving as Jesus loves is not saying "Yes, of course, why not" to everything
done by those we love but saying "You've messed up and you're in big
trouble; let me help."
Love is not afraid to call out sin and love is not afraid to take the hand
of the sinner and guide them to holiness.
As has been and is being done for us.

POLITICS ~
Democracy is effective so long as the majority is not a tyrant. Every majority is
eventually a tyrant.

POLITICS ~ Right is not determined by a majority
opinion but is affirmed by an individual adherence to the will of God.

POLITICS ~ We speak a great deal about 'Human
Rights,' as though these were a fundamental law of nature that
should be recognized by all rather than a construct of majority
opinion that will not survive the system under which they were
created. Man has not rights but he has one obligation: He must love
God; and he has two promises: He will die and Jesus saves. Beyond
these, 'Human Rights' have no value and are of no consequence.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS ~ It
concerns me that the typical North American (or Western) Christian so casually
dismisses the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's children in the
form of Spiritual Gifts as something that occurred only during the Apostolic
Age. My principal concern is that there appears to be no indication in the Bible
that dispensation of Spiritual Gifts was ever to end until Jesus returned to
take His followers to Heaven (see Paul's excellent discussion of Spiritual Gifts
in
1
Corinthians 12 through 14). Consequently I worry that the belief that
Spiritual Gifts are no longer given to God's people is accepted as an excuse the
for the fact that Spiritual Gifts do not visibly occur in such quantity as in
they did the Bible. It may well be that the real reason that we do not
experience the abundance of Spiritual Gifts is because our faith is so weakened
and distracted by the world around us. From what I have heard from Christians in
other parts of the world I am led to believe that the current North American (or
Western) debate on Spiritual Gifts would be un-understandable to many of our
brothers and sisters elsewhere because they are experiencing them (on of my
professors in Bible College is a prime example from my own experience).
Regardless of whether Spiritual Gifts are given today or not we must be very
careful of what we believe, making sure that we are not merely excusing with
this argument a far more serious problem (if we say that Spiritual Gifts do not
exist today) or that we are not fabricating an argument to say that Christians
today are not what they were in the Apostolic Age (if we say that Spiritual
Gifts do exist today).

SPIRITUAL GIFTS ~ HEALING ~
Perhaps God is not so much glorified in the miraculous healing of our illness
but in our miraculous faith in Him in spite of our illness.